Family searches for teen-ager

One Dearing couple was living this nightmare when their 13-year-old daughter didn't come home from school Friday.

Saturday night, they were still waiting.

The teen, Kayce Collins, went to classes at Thomson Middle School on Friday but did not get onto her bus after school, said her father, Earl Collins.

"She always calls if she's not coming home on the bus," he said. "When she didn't call by 4:30 (p.m.), we started getting worried."

He and his wife, Sally, filed a missing-person's report with the McDuffie County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Logan Marshall said Saturday that his department would start an investigation 24 hours after Kayce was reported missing.

"We don't just go out and start searching," he said. "What we'll do is investigate it."

The sheriff said that often teens who disappear have run away from home, and he said he had talked to the girl's father about problems.

"The daddy had told me that he had had some problems with her," Sheriff Marshall said.

The Collinses said that their daughter does not have a history of running away from home and that the discussions with the sheriff were about peer pressure Kayce was facing at school.

"It's not like she took anything and left. She didn't leave a note," Mrs. Collins said. "We don't know what to think."

Neither do Mrs. Collins' co-workers.

They were setting up for a health fair at Thomson High School when Mr. Collins called to say his wife wouldn't be there because Kayce was missing.

Sandy Lloyd and Kym Snyder immediately began trying to help their friend, who is the VISTA Volunteer coordinator in McDuffie County, but no one knew where to start.

Mrs. Snyder said she was frustrated by the lack of information available to them on what to do.